Well-drilling machine.



D. W. SAUNDERS. WELL DRILLING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 29 1908.

903,889. Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

i a J41 4] 40 2 5] I hwwroi D. W. SAUNDERS. WELL DRILLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 133.29, 1908.

903,889. Patented. Nov. 17, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

3 jziiz/iwzziw/a DELBERT W. SAUNDERS, OF MAQUOKETA, IOWA.

WELL-DRILLING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

Application filed February 29, 1908. Serial No. 418,591.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DELBERT SAUN- nuns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Maquoketa, in the county of Jackson and State of Iowa, have invented a new and use ful Well Drilling Machine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in well drilling machines, and is an improvement over the well drilling machine shown in Letters-Patent No. 753,319, granted to me on March 1, 1904, for a well drilling ma chine. In the said Letters-Patent there is a means provided for imparting a step-bystep rotative movement to the drill or bit without danger of twisting the rope or cable which serves to hoist the drill during the operation of the apparatus, the drill rope and Windlass being rotatable as a whole on a vertical axis so that the angular position of the cutting edge of the drill may be changed after each stroke.

The structure of the patent also provided means for regulating the downward feed of the drill in accordance with the rapidity of the drilling operation and the character of the ground, the feed decreasing or increasing as the drill met greater or less resistance, thus avoiding a slack drill rope. The present invention is more particularly directed to the means for providing an automatic feed for the drill responsive to the extent of stroke of the drill as the bore progresses. In the said patent this is provided for by an elastic mounting for the drill-carrying portion of the machine so that when the drill had progressed far enough in the bore to reach the limit of the length of the drill rope then effective, the drill, then meeting no resistance, imparted to the drillcarrying structure a shock or jar causing a spring support for the drill-carrying structure to yield, which yielding is ultimately sufficient to operate an escapement mechanism releasing the drill rope to a predetermined extent. By this means the drill was automatically fed into the bore in accordance with the speed with which it worked its Way into the earth.

By the present invention the use of springs is avoided and the drill-supporting parts are solidly upheld on the frame of the machine instead of being elastically supported as in the'said patent. The elasticity necessary to cause the yielding to the requisite extent to actuate the drill rope feed is provided by the rope which works the walking beam reciprocating the drill. For this purpose an elastic rope, such as Manila rope, is provided, and this rope will stretch, without detriment, to a sufficient extent when subjected to the strain imparted thereto when the drill descends and meets no obstruction until brought up by the resistance of the said rope. The stretching of this rope is found to be suflicient to permit the necessary movement of the drill-supporting carrier to actuate the feed mechanism for the drill rope.

The invention will be best understood by a consideration of the following detail de scription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a well drilling machine constructed in accordance with the aforesaid Letters-Patent, but modified to the extent necessary for the application of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view with parts omitted, showing the drillsupporting mechanism turned through an arc of 90 from the position shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a suitable frame 1 supported upon wheels 2-. Near one end of the frame is an upright or standard 3 provided with a suitable number of braces 41:, only one of which, however, is shown in the drawings. At the top of the standard is pivotally supported a lever or walking beam 5. Suitably mounted in the frame is a lever 6 pivoted at its forward end and at its rear end adapted to be operated by a cam or eccentric 7 fast on a gear wheel S'mounted on the drive shaft 9, which latter may receive motion in any suitable manner as by an engine either mounted upon the frame or separately provided. The engine .is not shown in the drawings since it forms no part of the present invention. The lever 6 carries a pulley 10 around which is passed a rope 11, one end of which is fast to 'a drum 12 in the frame and the other end of which is secured to a link 13 on the long end of the lever or walking beam 5. The link 13 may be adjusted to or from the pivot pin of the walking beam 5, and for this purpose the walking beam isvprovided with a number of perforations'lt, throughany one of whlch connected top and bottom by U-clips 16, 17

The bottom clip 17 is mounted upon a pivotal support 18 through which passes the drill carrier 19 extending up between the two side members 15 of the drill frame The lower end of the drill carrier has means for the securing thereto of the drill point 2.0 In the drawings the carrier and are shown in the withdrawn position, but it will be understood that in operation the drill and drill carrier are slowly lowered into the earth as the drilling progresses; On one face of each side member 15 is a.

guide 21, the two guides being joined by a brace 22. These two guides receive the two f legs 23 of a pulley support '24, the support being bent laterally in opposite directions and then again parallel to form the legs The support or carriage 24 has journaled therein a pulley 25 over which there extends a rope or cable 26 fast at one end to the upper end of the drill carrier 19, and after shorter end of the being passed over the pulley this rope is extended downward to a Windlass .27 mounted in the lower end of the frame supporting; At one end of this the drilling carrier. Windlass is a gear wheel 28 with a pinion 29 on a shaft 30 having suitable bearings in the lower end of the drilhcarrying frame, and on one end of this shaft 30 there I is a ratchet-wheel 31 under the control of two oppositelyoperating dogs 32 and 33,

each of which is provided with a tooth or head movable into and out of the teeth on; two dogs 32- and 33 and the ratchet-wheel controlled? the ratchet-wheel 31. These thereby are the same as shown in my aforesaid Letters-Patent and, therefore, need no 1 extended description The dog 33 is under; the control at all times of a spring .40, spring tending to keep the nose of the dog in engagement with the nose of the ratchet F wheel. Connected to the dog 33 on thef ratchet-wheel side of its pivot is a nod extending upward to a guide 35 on one of the side members 15., and thence through 'an- 1 other guide 36 and has its free end within the path of the carriage 24. The rod carries a pin 34 arranged to engage under the pawl 1 32 for a purpose that will presently appear. 1 The upper end of the carriage 24 is connected to a link 37 extending upward through a collar 16 on the clip 16, which; collar is inclosed by a bracket 3'8, and the link finally terminates in a yoke 39 pivotally secured to th bracket 38 and the pivotal support 18 cone corresponding and walking beam 5. The

so that those parts may be rotated about a longitudinal axis without danger of twisting the drill rope.

N ow, let it be assumed that the drill is in operation and has made progress down into the earth and also that the effective length of the rope 26 is sufficient at the particular time being considered. The lever 6 is moved about its pivot, first slowly downward by the action of the cam 7 on the free end of the lever, thus acting on the rope 11 and walking beam 5 to steadily elevate the drill for the requisite distance. The cam 7 then escapes from the end of the lever 6 and the weight of the drill causes it to drop rapidly and de liver a blow at the bottom of. the bore. Slowly the drill forces its way into the earth and ultimately further feed is prevented by the engagement of one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel 31 of the corresponding dog then in the path of the teeth of this wheel. The operation continues and the drill is. still able to cut because of the stretching of the rope 11, which is preferably a Manila rope and, therefore, will stretch to the requisite extent without harm. The normal play of the carriage 24 is insufficient to bring it in contact with the upper end of the rod 34, but the sudden jar of the drill carrier 19 on the rope 11 will cause the latter to stretch sufiiciently to permit the carriage 24 to ultimately come in contact with the upper end of the rod 34 and move the latter to a sufficient extent to release the ratchet-wheel '31 from the deg 33., however, at the same time bringing the dog 32 in the path of the teeth of this ratchet-wheel, because the two dogs are connected by :a link 41, as in the aforesaid Letters Pa-tent. The parts are so timed in operation that when the ratchet wheel is released from the dog 33 the rope 26 will pay out a distance permitted by the arrangement of the teeth on the ratchet wheel, as fully explained in the aforesaid Letters- Patent. This extra amount of the rope '26 permits the drill to again come in contact with the bottom of the bore and, so the carriage'24 no longer travels sufficiently to come in contact. with the upper end of the rod 34 and the rope 11 is relieved from the extra strain due to the fall of the drill carrier 19. The spring 40 lifts the dog 33 into the path of the teeth of the ratchet-wheel and at the same time elevates the rod 34, and the pin 34" on the latter lifts the pawl'32 out of the path of the ratchet-wheel. The drilling now proceeds as before until the effective length of the rope 26 is no longer sufficient to permit the drill point to reach the bottom of the bore. Again the unresisted drop of the drill carrier 19 acts on the rope 11 to stretch it, thus permitting the carriage to once more engage the end of the rod 34 and actuate the escapement dogs 3 2 and 33 to permit the feeding of the rope 26 as before described.

The drilling thus proceeds with the feed automatic so long as desired.

What is claimed is 1. In a well drilling machine, a drill carrier, a supporting rope therefor, escapement means for feeding said rope, a reciprocating carriage carrying said rope and supporting the drill point through the intermediary of said rope, an operating means for the escapement in the path of the carriage when abnormally moved in one direction, and a yielding means for reciprocating said carriage and permitting the abnormal movement thereof when the drill point is unresisted.

2. In a gravity drilling apparatus, a drill movable in the active direction by gravity, means for lifting the drill against the action of gravity, a drill rope for the drill, and feeding means for the drill rope actuated by the yielding of the drill lifting means due to the strain exerted on said lifting means for the drill caused by the falling drill.

3. In a gravity drilling machine, a drill moved in the active direction by gravity, means for lifting the drill against the action of gravity, and yieldable to a force greater than the weight of the drill, a drill rope,

means for feeding the drill rope step-bystep, and means whereby an abnormal movement of the drill due to the action of the unresisted fall of the latter on the lifting means, I actuates the feeding means.

4. In a gravity drilling apparatus, a drill moving in the active direction under the action of gravity, a drill rope carrying the drill, a sliding carriage provided with a l sheave or pulley over which the drill rope passes, a walking beam or lever connected to and actuating the carriage, under abnormal strains and walking beam, means acting on said rope for moving the walking beam in a direction to elevate the drill, a step-by-step escapement for the drill rope, and a sliding rod connected to said escapement and having one a rope yieldable connected to the t end in the path of the carriage and engaged by the latter when the carriage is moved ab- I normally by the fall of the drill when unresisted by the material to be cut.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

J. W. GrnsoRY, W. C. GREGORY. 

